When marketing your grooming business, there are ways to get the word out without breaking the bank. The first thing to do is focus on “thinking local.” You want to pitch the information about your grooming to a targeted audience. In our industry, your best investment is to focus on potential customers close to where you operate.
We recently had someone job shadow for a day at our grooming studio. Her take as she beat a hasty retreat? “It’s loud and messy and hard work.” That about sums it up! But most of us wouldn’t want to trade our loud, challenging, messy jobs for anything. So to keep ourselves healthy and able to continue at our jobs, we should all take steps to stay safe as we work. Read on for some suggestions on how to do just that.
Groomers, in fact people that interact with the public in many facets of the pet industry, are divided on the question of whether to apologize to a customer when they have a complaint. Some think an apology is due for every complaint, some that it’s warranted only if the groomer or salon is at fault, others think saying you are sorry admits culpability and so should never be said.
Here’s my firm opinion on the matter – it depends.
As professional groomers, most of us have cut thousands, if not millions, of dog nails throughout our careers. So what are the best tools to get this critical job done?
Here in Maine it’s nearly time for flea and tick season again, and in many parts of the country it’s in full swing already. How do you handle pets with fleas in your salon?
As pet groomers, we are more familiar with dog poop than we probably wish to be. Getting groomed can make dogs a little anxious, which can cause them to defecate. Sometimes it can be entirely unexpected, like in the middle of a bubbly bath or while being dried. The groomer must swiftly deal with those " oops, " but what about the deposits made while the dog enters or exits the grooming facility?
There are means other than pesticides that some groomers prefer to use and recommend to get rid of fleas, rather than using pesticides. While these more natural remedies often take a bit longer and do not have as high a kill rate they are preferred by a lot of clients, so it’s well worth offering them as a retail option as well as using them in the salon. While the word natural does not necessarily equate with safe, most customers believe that more natural products will work and will do so with less risk than more traditional chemical remedies.
When a groomer I admire wrote something extolling the virtues of the Andis Deshedding tool, I paid attention and ordered one. Rarely does a work day go by that I am not grateful for that choice. Groomers often joke about wanting or needing a magic wand, and this tool is about as close as it gets.
Sometimes it’s a good thing to brush up on basics. Maybe a fundamental grooming skill that you were never taught or one you were taught but sort of forgot about. Sometimes it is something you know about, but it is so ingrained that you do it without thinking, so you can’t teach someone else about it. In this case, the topic is about letting the force of water and air help you create the look you desire when grooming pets.
This is the time of year the big shedding breeds come in. They’re often the ones that haven’t been groomed in FOREVER. You know the ones – Goldens…arctic-type breeds…Saint Bernards. They have that coat that totally trashes your salon. Call me crazy – but we just love the transformation in this type of job. Here are my tips for de-shedding:
